Vincent Wijeysingha: Without liberties, our nation cannot come into her own

It is the SDP family which gathers once again to celebrate, among friends, our nation’s forty-sixth birthday. And so I want to speak to you as family. The General Elections just passed were for many of us a defining moment. Our party’s vote share, despite a very negative campaign by the other side, increased by 14% and we were able to showcase the Singapore Democrats as a serious party of thinkers and doers. And in fact, some of our policies, even without being in Parliament, are being adopted. There is a ministerial pay review occurring. Mr Vikram Nair and BG Tan Chuan Jin are holding Town Hall meetings; the PMO has been slimmed down substantially; and certain members of the PAP front bench have been sacked. Sorry, they stepped down. I stand corrected. But it was a defining moment for another reason. I experienced, and I am sure you did too, a feeling of mission, a true s...